Bargaining
by skydivefred
Vietnamese people are very tough at bargaining, a lot more than chinese people for instance.
If you happen to buy souvenirs and stuff, here are a couple of advice:
1/ learn a bit of vietnamese, not much but a little and especially the figures, greeting expressions.
They will smile and the atmosphere will be lighter.
2/ Always use humour, don' t get annoyed.
3/ Go late in the evening, they will have had a good day already, they'll be tired and if you insist a little the prices will go down as far as 50-60%
Be wide awake yourself. take a nap in the afternoon!!!! a little trired and you yield easily, they know it !!
3/ Pretend (if it is not true) that you've been there several times and yes you know this is way too much.
4/ If you are not desparate for buying an item and you see you can't lower the price significantly, then, drop it, and go away. they may run after you.
In a nut shell,: always look as if you have all your wits under control, always try to appear that you dominate the situation.
But don't forget, Vietnamese people are tough but fun to bargain with if you know how to keep your temper.
Never forget this is a game.
Giarai Tomb -- Ethnology Museum
by shrimp56
This reconstruction of a Giarai tomb was built with money from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What is exceptional are the wood carvings on the fence around the structure.The Giarai are the most populous minority in the Central Highland.
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Please see the travelogue for more pictures of this and the other traditional structures at the Ethnology Museum.
Couture, Maison, Resort
by pez about Song
Clothes and home furnishings designed by Valerie Gregori McKenzie, a French expat living in Vietnam the last 10 years. Valerie weaves Vietnamese, French, and other themes together into truly original creations. I've purchased bedspreads, sheets, pants, gifts, baby clothes, you name it.
Taxi - Airport to Downtown - Easy!
by WesHK
After reading so many other posts about how big a hassle it is to get to Hanoi from the airport, I was not looking forward to having to fight off Taxi touts and haggle over the fare. But, on arrival I was pleasantly surprised how easy (and cheap) it was to get into town.
After clearing customs, we stopped at the airport ATM to get some VN currency. At this point, one taxi tout offered us a ride but quickly left us alone when we declined. We headed straight outside and saw a line of clean taxis with a sign advertising a US$10 ride to downtown Hanoi. We jumped in, told the driver the name of our hotel, and headed off. Soon we were dodging hundreds of scooters, bicycles, and the occasional truck.. but we arrived safely at the right hotel in about 35 minutes. I paid the driver $10 and threw in a $1 tip.
So don't worry about your arrival in Hanoi.. just politely say no to any touts, go outside the terminal, look for the $10 cab, and enjoy your trip!
Danish anyone??
by wsloh about Little Denmark Cafe.
Little Denmark Cafe is located right in the Old Quarter on Hang Be Street, almost directly opposite Tamarind Restaurant (Tanmarind will have plenty of reviews in any Hanoi pages)
They serve, as the restaurant name suggests, Danish food. Not that it really mattered to me. Being Malaysian, I would categorise most non-Asian cooking as Western food. The cafe also served Vietnamese cuisines on their ala carte' menu.
I had a Danish beef steak sandwich, which came with an open face heavy rye bread (healthy and feels healthy) with an egg and some boiled vege. It was plain but REALLY refreshing and delicious. I had no idea that it's very Danish to have an open face sandwich (one sided bread, only one slice at the bottom), as I discovered later bumping into a Danish American on my Ha Long Bay cruise.
My wife had a Vietnamese pork springroll yada yada..... which was also very refreshing as it came with plenty of fresh Vietnamese herbs. Both of us had a beer each and the bill came to about VND90,000 which translated into Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 20 plus or about USD5-7.
It was a good experience, especially when the over enthusiatic chef (known or call themselves "CHIEFS" in Vietnam) came and chatted with us. He apparently work for 9 years in the Danish Embassy before venturing out on his own. He is also a weekly TV chef in the Vietnamese TV3, which runs his show at around 4:30pm or so.
Honest to goodness, his food is good and the price is more than reasonable (in a world where we pay VND20,000 for a street bowl of "pho" (noodle in broth Vietnam is famous for) Bewteen 2 person (me and my spouse) we ordered just 2 main dishes. So I can't tell which is my favorite dish. Try the open faced sandwich. AND of course the variety of Vietnamese beer.
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Noi Bai Airport,Ha Noi,Vietnam.
Tran Quoc pagoda
Ash on top-of-the-range soft bed aircon berth
Double Deck Berths
